Behaviorism and Social Cognitivism Case Study

1. Does Mr. Kessinger's class represent a community of learners as defined in Constructivist theory? Why or why not?

A: Community of learners is a method in which students not only co-construct knowledge but also work together in the design of their learning environment and curriculum. I would say that Mr. Kessinger’s class does not represent a community of learners. First, Mr. Kessinger is not allowing Robin participate in their class discussion. When she tries to participate he gets mad that she is using her notes and rips them up. He is not allowing robin to “design her own learning environment and curriculum.” At this point, the only thing that Robin can and would do is withdraw from any type of learning. She is probably so embarrassed and I would guess for the entire class period she would replay what just happened in her head over and over.


2. Does Mr. Kessinger utilize presentation punishment or removal punishment with Robin? Justify your response using definitions and evidence from the case.

A: I feel that Mr. Kessinger used presentation punishment. It is presenting an aversive stimulus when an undesirable behavior is displayed. The undesired behavior is that Robin is using a concept map and the teacher considers this cheating. It appears to me that the aversive stimulus is that Mr. Kessinger rips up Robin’s paper in front of her peers and says, “Robin? I'm waiting for an answer! What gives you the right to cheat in my class?!!” In the book it says, “The benefit of presenting punishers is that they produce immediate compliance for most students.” Robin is going to have immediate compliance in this situation. In this case this appears to be true especially considering that Robin no longer wants to use a concept map in Ms. Yamashit’s class. Robin is definitely complying and immediately. (I do not agree with what Mr. Kessinger did to Robin. This had to be a traumatic experience for the young girl.)


3. Explain Robin's reaction in Ms. Yamashita's class from the perspective of classical conditioning. Which stimuli are paired and how does that condition her response?

A: Classical conditioning is a behaviorist learning theory in which individuals learn by association, pairing automatic response to new stimuli. In this situation the unconditioned stimulus is Ms. Yamashita at Robin's desk looking at her work. Then Robin’s unconditioned response is the way she wants to hide her concept map and the way she cringes. When the stimuli is paired it definitely conditions her response. Robin has fear that Ms. Yamashita is going to rip her up concept map and accuse her of cheating. And this is because of her past experience in her history class. Where her teacher did rip up her concept map and accuse her of cheating.


4. How might Ms. Yamashita encourage Robin to create concept maps in the future? Include behavioral concepts such as shaping, reinforcement, etc., in your response.

A: Ms. Yamashita will encourage Robin to create concept maps in the future by acknowledging and praising Robin for her hard work. She can also use shaping which is an operant conditioning method that teaches new behaviors by reinforcing successive approximations towards the target behavior. For example, on several occasions if Robin has a concept map on her desk she can give her a smiley sticker. (Similar to what we did in our class the other day) For instance Ms. Yamashita could explain to the class that after getting ten smiley faces you can receive two extra credit points. Another idea is for Ms. Yamashita to use is cueing in a positive way. Cueing is using signals to indicate that a certain response is desirable or undesirable. So to show Robin that the concept map is desirable she could smile at Robin which is a type of cue. Then Ms. Yamashita could use reinforcement: which is the process of applying reinforcers with the goal of increasing that behavior. This could be that Ms. Yamashita listens to Robin and wants to hear what she has to say about her concept map.